A glimpse of opportunity: Start by marrying a mermaid bride.

Going down the sewers was the only option; the outside was surrounded by French soldiers, and Andrei had brought in twenty heavily armed French soldiers to search the area.

If Song Jin'ao hadn't been injured and was in full strength, these twenty French soldiers wouldn't have posed a problem. But now he had been shot in the arm, and his stamina and martial arts energy had been almost completely depleted during the fight with Richard.

In such a state, they are utterly powerless to defend themselves against the enemy.

Zheng Xuan is highly skilled, able to perform at his best in the water, and only slightly better than the average person on land. Although he has a gun, he is still at a disadvantage against twenty heavily armed French soldiers.

A hail of bullets—even a single bullet would have been enough to kill him.

He hasn't learned martial arts yet, so he can't withstand bullets with his bare hands like Song Jin'ao.

Therefore, of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best.

Zheng Xuan said to Song Jin'ao, "Uncle Song, you go down into the sewers first. I'll give them some gifts first."

As he spoke, Zheng Xuan arrived at Andrei's room, where foreign liquor had already been poured. Zheng Xuan set fire to the cotton sofa in the room, turned around and ran downstairs, carrying Li Jitong on his back as he ran out.

Andrei and his group rushed into the church, which was already filled with thick smoke. Andrei immediately saw that his room was on fire and was shocked. His dissertation was inside, and he was preparing to return home to receive an outstanding graduate award.

At this moment, Andrei shouted to the French soldiers, "Two men come with me to put out the fire, the rest of you search. If you find anything, shoot it dead. Don't leave any survivors!"

The soldiers must have started searching with their guns at the ready.

Zheng Xuan and his group had arrived at the sewers. Once there, Zheng Xuan told Song Jin'ao and Li Jitong to wait in the morgue while he went out to check if there was any danger on the river.

Zheng Xuan quickly entered the water and reached the surface of the river. Once outside, he felt a chill run down his spine, because at some point, the foreigner's ironclad warship had appeared on the water. It was equipped with the latest French Mle64-81 breech-loading rifled gun, which was far more powerful than the old-fashioned cannons of the Great Jing Dynasty. It had a caliber of 194mm, a rate of fire of 480 meters per second, and a range of 1400 meters.

As for its power, a single shot could physically destroy a small boat on the river, along with its crew.

At this moment, the ironclad warship was lying across the water, surrounded by four small wooden search boats, blocking the river. If Zheng Xuan and his men were to show their faces now, a single shot would suffocate them underwater, blasting them into pieces.

Seeing this, Zheng Xuan thought to himself, "No, I can walk underwater, and this ironclad ship can't do anything to me, but Song Jin'ao can't breathe underwater."

He had to think of a way. Thinking about it, Zheng Xuan first scuba dived down and found Zhou Xun hiding in the reeds not far away.

Zhou Xun was extremely anxious and terrified. The imposing presence of the ironclad warship lying across the water was enough to frighten him into immobility, but he was even more worried about his master and Zheng Xuan.

Zheng Xuan found him, and Zhou Xun, upon seeing Zheng Xuan, immediately asked what the situation was.

Zheng Xuan said, "Don't ask anything else, help me rescue Master and Uncle Song first."

As he spoke, Zheng Xuan pulled Zhou Xun into the water. When they reached the sewer, Zheng Xuan said to Zhou Xun, "In a moment, you two head west towards the small boats. I'll distract the ironclad warships."

Upon hearing this, Song Jin'ao asked, "How are you going to lure the ironclad warship away?"

Zheng Xuan then looked at the corpses scattered on the ground and said, "I'm afraid we'll have to borrow these brothers' bodies for a while."

Zheng Xuan explained his plan: to take all the corpses to the sewer outlet, where he would first block them from floating out. Once the corpses were lined up, Zheng Xuan would open the outlet, and Zhou Xun and Song Jin'ao would push the corpses inside.

Instantly, all the corpses emerged from the sewers, carried away by the flowing water.

Meanwhile, on the river, aboard the ironclad warship, Anthony was personally in command. He stared at the water's surface and suddenly saw a humanoid creature emerge from the water. Without further ado, Anthony ordered, "Fire!"

boom!

With one shot, the floating corpse was blasted to pieces.

Upon seeing this, Anthony's lips curled slightly, his face full of disdain. Daring to oppose the Empire, there was only one word: death.

But just as he was thinking this, the water suddenly became completely chaotic, like dumplings being dropped into a pot. Human-shaped corpses emerged one after another, dozens of bodies covering the entire river surface. He saw these corpses dressed in identical hospital gowns.

Anthony immediately shouted, "Stop!"

He recognized these corpses; he had just retrieved them a few days ago. How come they've all floated up now?

Unbeknownst to him, Zheng Xuan and Zhou Xun had already secretly transported Song Jin'ao and Li Jitong by waterway to a small boat in the reeds.

But they can't escape now; the ironclad warships outside have blocked their way, and showing their faces would mean certain death.

Meanwhile, aboard the warship, Anthony frowned and said, "Something's wrong. Prepare the frogmen for underwater reconnaissance!"

As the commander, Anthony keenly sensed that something was wrong. He immediately prepared to send frogmen underwater to investigate. If these frogmen were allowed to investigate freely, it would be almost certain that Zheng Xuan and his gang would be exposed.

Thinking of this, Zheng Xuan said to Zhou Xun, "Find an opportunity to help Master and Uncle escape."

"Ah Xuan, what are you doing? Don't do anything foolish!"

Zhou Xun said anxiously, and Song Jin'ao also wanted to speak up to persuade them, but Zheng Xuan shook his head and said, "We're all hiding here, it's only a matter of time before we're found. I'll distract them, and we can get rid of as many as we can."

As he spoke, Zheng Xuan looked at Zhou Xun and said, "Take good care of Master."

After saying that, he plunged into the water. Zhou Xun looked at Zheng Xuan's back and was speechless for a moment, feeling only moved.

At this moment, Zheng Xuan swam out and came to the vicinity of the ironclad ship. The frogmen on the ironclad ship were still wearing diving suits. Zheng Xuan directly took out his golden revolver and fired two shots at the frogmen on the ship.

bang bang~

Two shots were fired. One shot hit the frogman in the chest, killing him instantly. The other shot missed and hit the hull of the ironclad warship.

But those two shots terrified Anthony. Anthony came to his senses and roared, "Provocation! Blatant provocation! Chase after them!"

At the same time, the sailors on the ironclad ship pulled out their muskets and fired wildly into the water.

Zheng Xuan was too frightened to show his face. At this moment, the four small ships not far away immediately took action. Ironclad ships are not as agile as small boats in the water. At this moment, the small boats quickly formed an encirclement.

"Prepare the fishing nets."

Having learned from their experience dealing with the water monsters, the foreigners immediately prepared their fishing nets. Zheng Xuan frowned, drew his revolver, killed two men, and fled. Meanwhile, four patrol boats began to encircle Zheng Xuan.

They were about to surround Zheng Xuan. Once they covered him with a net, Zheng Xuan wouldn't be able to escape.

The four ships were about to form an encirclement when suddenly the water beneath one of the small boats exploded, followed by a colossal creature bursting out of the water. With a deafening roar, the small wooden boat was smashed to pieces by the monster's immense force.